[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 122 (Monday, June 27, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 38178-38179]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-13619]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0034106; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]


Notice of Intent To Repatriate Cultural Items: American 
Numismatic Society, New York, NY

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The American Numismatic Society (the ``Museum''), in 
consultation with the appropriate Indian Tribes or Native Hawaiian 
organizations, has determined that the cultural item listed in this 
notice meets the definition of an unassociated funerary object and an 
object of cultural patrimony. Lineal descendants or representatives of 
any Indian Tribe or Native Hawaiian organization not identified in this 
notice that wish to claim this cultural item should submit a written 
request to the Museum. If no additional claimants come forward, 
transfer of control of the cultural item to the lineal descendants, 
Indian Tribes, or Native Hawaiian organizations stated in this notice 
may proceed.

DATES: Lineal descendants or representatives of any Indian Tribe or 
Native Hawaiian organization not identified in this notice that wish to 
claim this cultural item should submit a written request with 
information in support of the claim to the Museum at the address in 
this notice by July 27, 2022.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dr. Gilles Bransbourg, Executive 
Director, American Numismatic Society, 75 Varick Street, 11th Floor, 
New York, NY 10013, telephone (212) 571-4470, email 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Notice is hereby given in accordance with 
the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), 25 
U.S.C. 3005, of the intent to repatriate a cultural item under the 
control of the American Numismatic Society, New York, NY, that meets 
the definition of an unassociated funerary object and an object of 
cultural patrimony under 25 U.S.C. 3001.
    This notice is published as part of the National Park Service's 
administrative responsibilities under NAGPRA, 25 U.S.C. 3003(d)(3). The 
determinations in this notice are the sole responsibility of the 
museum, institution, or Federal agency that has control of the Native 
American cultural item. The National Park Service is not responsible 
for the determinations in this notice.

History and Description of the Cultural Item

    In or around 1912, one cultural item was removed from a Pawnee 
burial site in Nance County, NE. In 1913, the item was published by 
A.G. Parker in The Numismatist (vol. 26, p. 132), who wrote that it was 
``recently found at Genoa, Neb., by John Vaught, a man employed by the 
village of Genoa to repair the water works reservoir. . . . The hill 
referred to was at one time used as a burying ground by the Pawnee 
Indians. . . .'' In 1915, William Poillon, Edward T. Newell, and Thomas 
L. Elder donated the item to the Museum.
    The one unassociated funerary object and object of cultural 
patrimony is a silver medal issued by the United States Mint with a 
right-side profile image of Abraham Lincoln, with the following text on 
the obverse: ``ABRAHAM LINCOLN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES 1862.'' 
On the reverse is a central vignette of a rural scene, encircled by a 
scalping scene flanked by a quiver of arrows, a bow, a tomahawk, and 
the head of a woman.
    By letter dated January 4, 2022, the Museum informed the Pawnee 
Nation of Oklahoma (the ``Pawnee Nation'') of the discovery of this 
item in the Museum's collection and its apparent affiliation with the 
Pawnee Nation. On February 2, 2022, the Museum met with the President 
of the Pawnee Nation to discuss the item.
    By letter dated February 8, 2022, the Pawnee Nation requested 
repatriation of the item as an unassociated funerary object and/or as 
an object of cultural

[[Page 38179]]

patrimony, emblematic of the military and diplomatic history of the 
Pawnee Nation in the nineteenth century and in particular during the 
Indian Wars on the Great Plains, when the Pawnee Nation was a military 
ally of the United States.

Determinations Made by the American Numismatic Society

    Officials of the American Numismatic Society have determined that:
     Pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(3)(B), the one cultural item 
described above is reasonably believed to have been placed with or near 
the human remains of a Native American at the time of death or later as 
part of the death rite or ceremony of the Pawnee Nation of Oklahoma and 
is believed, by a preponderance of the evidence, to have been removed 
from the burial site of a Native American individual.
     Pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(3)(D), the one cultural item 
described above has an ongoing historical, traditional, or cultural 
importance central to the Native American group or culture itself, 
rather than property owned by an individual.
     Pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(2), there is a relationship of 
shared group identity that can be reasonably traced between the 
unassociated funerary object and object of cultural patrimony and the 
Pawnee Nation of Oklahoma.

Additional Requestors and Disposition

    Lineal descendants or representatives of any Indian Tribe or Native 
Hawaiian organization not identified in this notice that wish to claim 
this cultural item should submit a written request with information in 
support of the claim to Dr. Gilles Bransbourg, Executive Director, 
American Numismatic Society, 75 Varick Street, 11th Floor, New York, NY 
10013, telephone (212) 571-4470, email [email protected], by 
July 27, 2022. After that date, if no additional claimants have come 
forward, transfer of control of the unassociated funerary object and 
object of cultural patrimony to the Pawnee Nation of Oklahoma may 
proceed.
    The American Numismatic Society is responsible for notifying the 
Pawnee Nation of Oklahoma that this notice has been published.

    Dated: June 10, 2022.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2022-13619 Filed 6-24-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4312-52-P